PART 2: Rethinking the Roman Landscape SECTION 1: URBAN AND PERI!URBAN LANDSCAPES Gabriela Maksymiuk, Richard Stiles, Emma Tagiacollo, Aleksandra Tisma, Guido Granello, Maria Andreucci, Damian Perez, Kamila Adamczyk-Mucha, Isabel Martinho da Silva, Gintaras Stauskis, Franco Zagari, Fabio di Carlo Chapter U1: Centrality and orientation in the city of the third millennium THE FOLLOWING SUMMARY OF FRANCO " e Forum’s theme ZAGARI’S KEYNOTE LECTURE FOR LE:NOTRE According to Zagari, the Forum’s focus on extra-urban LANDSCAPE FORUM PARTICIPANTS IN ROME spaces has been eventually posed in a new way. He refers IS BASED ON HIS THESES STATEMENTS AND to Lawrence Halprin’s design of squares in Portland. He NOTES TAKEN DURING HIS PRESENTATION claims that it has been fifty years since Lawrence Halprin AND WRITTEN DOWN BY GABRIELA introduced two strong provocations. Zagari suggests MAKSYMIUK. that this specific project had marked the debate on public spaces ever since. In the new city, the qualities of centrality and the Zagari reflects that it’s amazing how much innovative principles of orientation change at high speed. As a and open the theme of urban growth is, because the new consequence, the landscape design reveals mostly millennium city entirely differs from its precedents. topical. However, as we were reminded by Franco A totally different city Zagari, it necessarily demands new tools, methods Zagari states that the todays cities and “our habitats” and strategies linking tradition and innovation, are totally different from those where we were born in. which involve various knowledge and a strong social He mentions that in numerous parts of city one cannot participation. Zagari confirms that the landscape is define neither urban nor rural or natural. Zagari calls perceived not only as a static sequence of elements in this phenomena a “city – non – city” – a totally different the space, but also as a lively and interactive process. He city, which extends itself with an unknown speed so far. points out that awareness and experience can contribute Again, in his speech Zagari emphasized the need for new to redevelopment a participation that is at the root of a tools and methods, different knowledge regarding ethic democratic government of the territory. and aesthetic evaluations, new awareness of natural and Franco Zagari started his speech with a reference to his cultural interactions, a new mind and approach. Zagari direct experiences from Versailles. Using this example explains: “ I think I have learnt many things these days, as a personal tribute to André Le Notre he said: “ To me, but huge taxonomical apparatus often seem to pursue Versailles had always been a reference, given its planning the course of events. The matter is – I believe – to foresee, concept with a remarkable scale jump in relation to Paris, anticipate it; is it not true that the culture of garden already which brought the Louvre to the countryside, serving as did it regarding the landscape, by providing prototypes, a design that physically represented the dimension of the ideas, behaviours, on which the cities further developed? ” new country. The outdoor spaces were – I guess – the widest of the world to host the first-ever court of more than 40,000 people. I learnt this from Giedion, who also For a theorem of sustainability taught me that the garden through the time is a workshop Searching for the theorem of sustainability, Franco of shapes and ideas afterwards developed in models for Zagari wonders why not saying “ The role of urban urban growth. Such were the cases of the square and landscape in the transformation of open spaces” ? He crescent for the English town, the Allées de Chasse, which points out that there is a big discriminant between the anticipated the French boulevard, and the ring in Wien”. one who speaks of landscape with merely objective Zagari states that André was a great courtier, but his terms, usually claiming to defend it, often without modern resolution never left any detail to chance. He understanding neither its evaluative reasons nor its was born into a gardeners’ family. In Versailles, he shaped need of transforming, and the one who refers to it as an a complex programme of ludic and political activities, approach, a method, a discipline. According to Zagari the currently darkened by the hackneyed touristic use. The project is the casus belli, and through this filter he would fine and wide iconography overwhelms us by showing raise some issues on the landscape, its crisis, the ongoing an unprecedented yard with regards to its pre-industrial trends, and also on some positive untrendy reactions quality and extension, with its huge systems such as yet more often highlighted. He explains the approach: Marly’s waterworks, and magnificent performances “From the flower’s corolla up to the wider scales, the design and feasts with fireworks, parades. According to Zagari, faces rising amnesias, omissions, misunderstandings – André Le Notre was a fine urban planner, too. He often not guiltless – which make difficult sharing among compares Le Notre with Paxton, Olmstead, Burle-Marx, communities, networks, people, and the very meaning of and even though at a smaller scale, Italian Raffaele De policies of preservation, care, and innovation” . Vico. 2 Part 2: Rethinking the Roman Landscape " e # rst aim: massima universalia " e third aim: reset The keywords are open process, participation of According to Zagari the keywords are the art.9 of the knowledge and opinion, clear task, beauty, responsibility. Constitution, and the European Landscape Convention. Franco Zagari strongly believes that there is a claim At this point Zagari reflects that the realization of urban of courage, and nowadays putting beauty plainly as plans and public works represents one of the most a political aim with the greatest ambition and full demanding challenge: a real and radical reset is needed. responsibility has a deep meaning, re-stating with He underlines that as there are not only crucial, but also Dostojevsky that “ beauty will save the world ”. cultural and socio-economic reasons, this aspect must be considered the top priority in the interest of European " e second aim: minima moralia countries. According to Zagari, the landscape designer The keywords are relationships and systems, activities can contribute decisively, because his/her mission and streams, guerrilla, homeopathy, microsurgery, is purposely arranged to integrate his/her specific acupuncture, surfing. knowledge with other fields and creative approaches According to Zagari, the second aim highlights that every and, above all, to ease the dialogue with anyone who is project, in order to regenerate the landscape, should aware of and involved in a certain landscape. firstly accept it, including its contradictions, even if it is less comprehensible. As it may be done for a suffering Projects body to be treated with a friendly spirit, patiently, with In his keynote presentation, Franco Zagari presented a bit of humour and the best possible expertise, piece several his designs. He’s chosen a random order of by piece, whether it deals with famous contexts or presentation, neither following a chronological order huge parts of the territory that are dull or neglected. nor a geographical one, as such is the way that the present Therefore, it is necessary to understand the vocations of through moves, through short-circuits and elliptical the place, as to agree on the main lines of intervention, orbits, like on the web. Figures 3.1 to 3.4. represent a but in parallel to discover the extraordinary strength of selection of his projects. small numbers, everything which is close to our daily Zagari refered to Rashomon, the everlasting film by scene, in close contact with the people. Akira Kurosawa, and to Pirandello’s drama such as Six Zagari points out that Cure vs. Crisis is a twofold theme, Characters in Search of an Author, as he believes that being dialectic and not necessarily antithetic. He it is not so much interesting to find out a reliable truth, reminds us Marcel Duchamp who stated that “M odernity as to examine several interpretations of the same theme. is what transform crisis into value ”. Nowadays, setting Therefore, the truth should not be searched among the theme of landscape care would imply not to opt for many, but in the combinatorial analysis of reciprocal an attitude of removal, but friendly towards a suffering connections. The lifecycle of a work can be short or long, reality. Zagari relates also to the “1993 Almanac of the sparse or dense, and a fascinating mystery often flows Italian society” by Laura Balbo. He states that many of between construction and demolition. us believe that elements of strength can be taken from the depression of the crisis. Such energy might change it into an asset, trying to disassemble and reassemble vices, habits, rules that stalemated the design, with an attitude that is not only negative, but also creative. Fig. 3.1. Saint-Denis Les Abords De La Basilique. Chapter U2 3 Fig. 3.3. Porto Sant’elpidio (2002). Fig. 3.4. Roma – „Cythera” and „Hashi”. 4 Part 2: Rethinking the Roman Landscape Chapter U2: The EUR district: expansion developing into a centre1 1 This chapter presents a perspective of a local expert - Emma Tagliacollo. U2.1 Backgroud swimming pool Piscina delle rose) – while at the same The EUR that we know today is part of Rome, planned time strengthening the connections between this area and developed as the first really modern area in the and the city. Consequently, EUR became a district of various phases of its creation. Its current form is the Rome and as such is a built-up area, not only populated result of successive steps that began with the ideation of by the people who already lived there but also by those E.42, transforming it from a monumental centre into an who visited the area due to the strong impact of the urban centre and district, that is, transforming an ideal Olympic Games media coverage.